|
Click here for a PDF printable file
Click here to download your PDF reader - FREE
God’s Life Assurance
By
Rev. Todd W. Allen
Villa Rica 08/21/2005
2 Timothy 1:1-11
Given enough time and money mankind can
solve almost any problem. The problems of disease, of famine, of
pestilence and war are serious problems. But these problems are not
hopeless. There are breakthroughs. We see glimmers of hope from time to
time for seemingly incurable ailments. But who really believes man has
the capacity to solve the problem of death? Who believes that the aging
process can be stopped altogether -- Science-fiction writers to the
contrary. There is no process of freezing, or preserving, no elixir, no
drug and no program that can indefinitely prolong or preserve life.
Now should I ask you the
question, do you know for certain that you have eternal life you know
that I would not be asking you whether you have it within your power to
live forever? That question can only have reference to your religious
knowledge. We all know that death is the one thing we cannot escape.
True. There have been a few people who have been restored to life
temporarily. The Bible tells us about a few who experienced a
resurrection back to this present life. There was the son of the
Shunammite woman; Jairus' daughter; the son of the widow of Nain and
Dorcas; there was Lazarus who had been dead four days and of course the
saints at the time of Christ's death. But these persons all died again.
There is no person living now to whom we can go and ask, how have you
managed to stay alive for the last 2000 plus years? What is the secret
of your longevity?
Every once in awhile some
journalist will interview some person who is over 100 years old, perhaps
even a few years beyond 100, and they always ask to what do they
attribute their long life. And the answers are always interesting. We
all would like to know what program some person has followed that
enabled him or her to live to such a ripe old age, but I haven't seen
any write-ups about someone 200, 300, 400, 500 years old, at least not
outside the Bible.
Adam lived to be 930 years old before he
died. His son Seth lived to be 912 years old before he died. Enosh lived
905 years. Cainan lived 910 years. The oldest antediluvian was
Methuselah who lived to be 969.
Noah survived the flood and lived to the
age of 950. But after the flood men ceased to live to such great ages.
Abraham lived to the age of 175. And Jacob who was renamed Israel by God
lived to the age of 147. Moses lived to the age of 120. Joshua lived to
the age of 110. Nowadays anything much over 100 is considered a great
age. I had a sainted member at Shenandoah PCA who lived to be 103 before
she went to be with the Lord.
There have been men who have attempted to pierce
the veil of death, but there is no living person we can go to and ask is
it really true that you came back from beyond the abode of death and are
still living?
Harry Houdini, before he
died in 1926 made a promise to his wife that he would break through to
her if there were any way to do it. She said in an interview some years
after his death that she had fulfilled all of their agreed upon
procedures but that she never heard from her husband after he died.
If any human might have
been expected to make a breakthrough it would have been the famous
escape artist Houdini who had possessed such an uncanny ability to
extricate himself from seemingly impossible and hopeless situations. But
it has been 79 years since his death and Houdini has not escaped from
death to return and take his bows and tell about his recovery from
death. Yet the Bible declares that eternal
life is a reality.
Jesus said,
24“Truly,
truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me,
has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of
death into life. (John 5:24, See also John 6:47)
What a fantastic word! Who before or since has said such a thing? Yet
Jesus Christ said those words.
I want to bring to your
attention two basic reasons why our Lord Jesus could make this offer and
claim. There are other reasons, which I may give at another time, but
time constraints will only allow us to discuss two reasons today. I
personally believe that the two reasons I will present are completely
adequate for any person to know for certain that he or she has eternal
life.
The
first reason found in our text states:
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to
our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted
us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 10but now has
been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished
death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. (2
Tim. 1:9-10)
God made a
promise of eternal life from all eternity at the foundation of the
world. Listen to these scriptures:
1Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus
Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the
truth which is according to godliness, 2in the hope of
eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,
Titus 1:1-2
In 1 Pet. 1:20 we get further confirming word: 20For He
was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in
these last times for the sake of you.
A
third confirmation is found in Revelation 13:8 which speaks of those who
will worship the beast government entity controlled by Satan whose
names are not written from the foundation of the world in the book
of
life of the Lamb who has been slain.
Please consider that God's plan and purpose was to create this world for
the express purpose of providing a place to bring forth an elect people
who were to be clothed with salvation and have given to them the gift of
eternal life.
This world is not an accident of the cosmos, nor is it just a place that
God happened to pick out of his universe to be a suitable planet to use
for his purpose. No, the earth was formed for an exact and precise
purpose. That purpose was not revealed to anyone until the beginning of
the Gospel. Paul states that although it had been recorded in the
Scriptures it was not made manifest until the New Testament era. Yet
that plan and purpose had been present in the mind of God before he ever
brought into existence the world we live on today.
The world was created by God to be a special place for the working out
of his purpose. And the apostle states that this was more than just a
plan, it was a promise. The promise made, which has now been revealed,
is that he would have an elect people who would obtain from Him eternal
life. The apostle says,
2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie,
promised long ages ago, 3but at the proper time
manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was
entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior. (Titus 1:2-3)
Our doctrine of God is that God leaves
nothing to chance. He purposes and then executes his purpose. Any lesser
view of God is inadequate and unsatisfactory. God is not like man that
he should purpose something and then fail to carry out his purpose. It
is inconceivable that God should plan to do something and then fail to
execute that plan, but it is impossible that God should go so far as to
promise something before the foundation of the world, record it in
scripture and keep it secret for thousands of years, then finally reveal
that promise and then fail to keep his promise. God cannot lie. But if
his promise is not true, then it could be said of God that he lied or
promised something he could not and did not fulfill.
Therefore Beloved, we know for certain
from the word of God that eternal life has been promised to God's
elect. Our hope for eternal life rests upon the immutable, unchangeable
promise of God' Himself.
But someone may say, "Well, that is all
well and good for you but I still am not assured that I have it. The
promise may be for others and yet not be for me. To such a one I offer
the second basis for certainty found in our text and that is God’s
provision.
9who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which
was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 10but now
has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who
abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the
gospel. (2 Tim. 1:9 –10)
A saved person is one who was called by
the gospel with a holy calling. Such people can be assured that
they were included in the purpose of God before the world began. What
does it mean to be called with a holy calling? It means those whom God
effectually calls by his word and Spirit out of the state of sin and
death.
Has God called you out of
a life of sin and death? Has he beckoned to you to become his child? Has
he spoken to you in such a way that you understand that you are a sinner
and cannot save yourself and that sin by its nature produces death? Has
he spoken to you about your temper, your anger that boils up from
within? Has he spoken to you about deceit and fraud that you have been a
party to? Has he spoken to you about lying and cheating, even stealing
and robbing others? Has he showed to you the covetousness of your heart
that has often led you to envy others, or to want to have that which did
not belong to you? Has he showed you the serpentine nature that you have
inherited from Adam, which lacks love for God or man? And has he now
taken away that heart of stone and given you a heart of flesh so that
your will has been renewed by his mighty power to love that which once
you hated and hate that which once you loved? Has he so worked in your
heart that you have understood the gospel and have desired to flee to
the mercy of God in Christ from the wrath to come? Then you have been
called with a holy calling.
Has the gospel been made manifest to you
so that now you understand its heavenly provision? Our first basis was
God’s promise of eternal life; our second basis is his provision. And
what is that provision?
Jesus Christ said that he is the bread of heaven. We read in John 6:32,
Jesus
then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has
given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the
true bread out of heaven. 33“For the bread of God is that
which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” 34Then
they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
35Jesus
said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not
hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 36“But I
said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. 37“All
that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I
will certainly not cast out. 38“For I have come down from
heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39“This
is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose
nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40“For this is the
will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him
will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:32-40
This provision is outside the will and work
of man. No man can ever obtain eternal life by something he does, only
by what Christ does for him. The man who is still attempting to save
himself is outside the salvation of God. He is a Houdini trying to find
his own solution or way out of death. He yet abides in death. We must
let God do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We must let his
gospel be the means of saving us.
A football fan goes to see a super bowl
game. As he sits watching from the bleachers a certain outstanding
player gets the ball and makes a spectacular touchdown. Because of that
touchdown his team wins the game. The fan rises from his seat, throws
his hat in the air with ecstasy and cries, “We won!” He does not
hesitate to say we won even though the whole game was played and won
without any effort on his part.
If people can become so
excited over the exploits of a few men running around with a pigskin
ball, what profound joy should animate their hearts as they consider
that the most serious problem facing mankind and
themselves, the problem of sin and death, has been overcome by a
God-sent Savior.
Jesus Christ, Son of the eternal
Father, came to earth to take our place in the arena of life and death.
In our name and on our behalf he ran to the finish goal to win for you
and me an eternal victory. On the cross he cried, “It is finished!” By
his death he destroyed sin, my sin and your sin. He crucified our old
sinful nature in his own body on the tree and in that act defeated
Satan, abolished death, and perfected his people forever and brought in
everlasting righteousness. There is no more need to serve sin by obeying
our sinful nature, do Satan’s bidding or fear death. Looking to Christ’s
substitutionary work we can triumphantly say, “We have won!”
No wonder
that Jesus Christ can say,
24“Truly,
truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me,
has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of
death into life. John 5:24
Dear friend, you can and should know for
certain that you have eternal life on the basis of God’s irrevocable
promise given before the foundation of the world, and because his
wonderful provision perfectly executed provides the salvation you need.
He is issuing his holy calling today to all who will hear his voice. Are
you believing God’s promise and relying solely on his provision? Confess
and verify it today by singing with me our closing hymn,
“My Hope Is in the Lord” #523
Back to
the Top
The paper and sermon manuscripts from
Pastor
Todd W. Allen
are made freely available for review and
distribution. We only request that proper
web page attribution be provided if
distributed for any reason. Please be
gracious to forgive typos and errors of
expression. These notes are faithful
approximations of what has been preached.
May God be glorified in the preaching of
His Word. |